


Lavender and Truth

by BabyChocoboAlchemist



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Brotherly Love, Fluff, Ignis being Ignis, M/M, Or Gladnoct, Prompto Protection Squad 2017, it's your call
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-09
Updated: 2017-02-09
Packaged: 2018-09-23 02:01:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9635948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabyChocoboAlchemist/pseuds/BabyChocoboAlchemist
Summary: Realizing newborn feelings for the master chef, Prompto can't help but feel horrible about Ignis protecting him in battle. But when Ignis confesses something Prompto never thought he'd hear, his life changes in ways he never thought were possible.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by the painfully short cliffhanger for Episode Prompto, Prompto's backstory and Chapter 13. :) 
> 
> Thank you so much for being here!

“Well. Glad to see you’ve finally come back to us. Welcome home.”

Clinging to whatever air he could grasp, Prompto clutched his heart with a hand. Reality and the visions he almost drowned in collided, slamming into him with malevolent, earsplitting viciousness. Silence and chaos were one as his head throbbed, ushering his return into a world that strangled his spirit. 

Shaking off the demons was an exercise in futility. Every thread of his being pulsated with venom, nausea, as he tried to make sense of the world around him. The scents of lavender and evening calm thrust themselves into him as memories incinerated him. Memories of nightmares that had just passed. Heart racing, he turned to Ignis in relief, panic, longing, happy to see the bladesman at his side but broken. Stirred by the promise of something new and wonderful, but terrified by the possibility of it breaking what was left of him. 

The bandages. The bandages on the arm of Noct’s advisor were his fault. If it hadn’t been for him, Ignis never would have had that look on his face. There never would’ve been pain. Too much pain, blinding pain, Ignis protecting him. Maelstroms. Noctis and Gladiolus calling out his name, both infinitely worried, much too loving and patient, much too kind.

None of it would’ve happened if it hadn’t been for him.

They were in a room inside Lestallum’s inn, tucked away from the world’s torrential disorder. Noctis and Gladiolus were most likely in their own room, knowing their chocobo would be well taken care of by the master chef. The world beyond their window was silent, so still it must’ve been frozen by Shiva’s breath. But lavender’s caress did nothing to soothe the one in the bed beside the window.

Lavender. The essence Noct’s tactician wore daily. The gentle fragrance that enveloped the mesmerizing, bewitching light. The light he had no business gazing upon, thinking about, worrying about. 

Prompto had no business being anywhere near him. If it hadn’t been for him, Ignis wouldn’t have been-

“You’ve been asleep for quite a while. I was beginning to miss you with merciless ferocity. Oh, and before you ask, the morons you refer to as ‘brothers’ are tucked away in their room. They entrusted me with your care. And on that note, how are you feeling?”

A cascade of memories burned the photographer’s eyes. Standing in the center of a whirlpool, Prompto found himself entombed in euphoria, dread, adrenaline that came from touching the earth for the first time. It had been growing for weeks, the fascination that never should’ve been, and the source of the photographer’s chaos was beside him. Stirring flames he would’ve given anything to extinguish. “I’m okay,” he replied, breathless, heart racing as he averted his eyes from the tactician.

“Feelin’ a bit better now, thanks. Sorry about your arm.”

The master chef’s response was instant. “Have no fear,” he said, his voice as soft as the rising moonlight. It was at that point he rested a hand on Prompto’s forehead, so close, alive with warmth and lavender. 

“It’ll be as right as rain in no time. You’re the one that requires full attention, so no more inquiries about my wellbeing. Now, would you care for some tea?”

Tea? Tea? Without his arms, Ignis couldn’t make tea. Couldn’t cook. Read. Drive. Couldn’t enjoy anything that set his heart on fire. And thanks to a certain gunslinger, he almost lost one. 

Just when Prompto had the complete and utter nerve to-

“I wouldn’t mind brewing you some. After all, I’ve-“

“What are you doing?”

Eyes raised in alarm, Noctis’ caretaker stared at him. The silence that brewed between them was deafening, but fortunately broken in a heartbeat. However, the words Prompto ended the silence with were even more troubling than the absence of voice. “What’s goin’ on, man?” the gunner asked, clutching his heart. Desperately keeping his eyes averted from the one he wanted to be held by, comforted by. From the one he wanted to melt into, more than he needed to breathe.

“What were you doin’ back there? You could’ve been killed, Ignis.”

The master chef shrugged, eyes afire with confusion, gentleness he only gave to Prompto. “But here I am, in all of my glory.”

“I’m not joking. What’s Noct gonna do if you check out on ‘im? You’ve gotta stay with ‘im t’ take care of ‘im.”

The volume of his voice rose, every breath alive with sadness and want. 

“You can’t get yourself killed over something like me!”

There it was, the blade that buried itself in whatever was left of his heart, his spirit. The blade that split the threads of overwhelming, uplifting, horrifying happiness, music, the sounds of joy that split through the air whenever Ignis was near. Everything struck him like Titan’s fists, tearing him apart as though he had never been anything but a ragdoll. Something frail, ugly, useless.

Useless.

Silence was deafening yet again, burying the blade deeper. Prompto kept his head bowed, ignoring how his body pulsed with physical pain, diving deeper into the sadness that crushed the remnants of his spirit. It became a blur, the world and its sounds, even the one so close, so warm and kind. The one that smelled of lavender and patience. But something strange happened, shattering the silence that threatened to go on without end. Something odd was born. And it was none other than-

Heartache.

“I’ve been such a fool. It took me this long to realize it.”

Prompto lifted his head. Immediately he discovered the pain on the bladesman’s face, the sadness that had suddenly emerged from the world’s silence. “You continue to deface yourself, but in truth, you’re much stronger than any of us,” the chef revealed, much to his friend’s astronomical surprise. The photographer’s eyes became as wide as the moon at the news. But on Ignis went, determined to let Prompto into the world he had been carrying for so long. As he spoke, he erased some of the younger man’s tears with gentle fingers.

“That also explains why you’re so quick to cry. You’re exhausted from the stress of hiding so many wounds. They are wounds I know nothing of, but I am familiar with their weight. The way you bear them lets me know you’re a much greater man than I could ever hope to be.”

There it was, the nauseating, meteoric nausea pressing him to say it, to just confess it. The sky was close enough to feel, to taste, to reach. The possibility of touching it was dizzying, wonderful, an alarming cavalcade of sensations he never thought he’d feel. Even more so for another man. “I am in awe of how you devote so much to others, yet give nothing to yourself,” Ignis went on.

“It saddens me, but I cannot help keep myself from comparing you with a king. Your ability to remain so passionate about everything life has to offer, in the wake of pain you work so diligently to hide, astounds me.”

“Ignis?”

“Yes?”

“I…I…um, I…I th-th-think I’m-“

“By Shiva’s mercy,” Ignis snarled, as several things happened at once: Prompto falling out of the bed, the door bursting open, chocobos flooding the room, Noctis and Gladiolus right behind the birds-

“What in the name of the Six are you two doing?!”

“I thought seeing some of his family would make Prompto feel better,” Noctis chirped, holding a bundle of yellow innocence. “Family reunions make everyone feel better, right?”

“How many we got in here, Noct?” Iris’ brother asked, holding two of the chatty birds himself. “About ten, you think?”

“Yeah, sounds about right.”

“In the name of all that is holy, would you two PLEASE tell me what’s wrong with you?!”

And it was in the middle of that chaos Prompto laughed, feeling lighter than a feather, unaware of how they constantly constructed antics just to put a smile on his face.

It was in the middle of that chaos Prompto laughed, shelving the truth that would soon become too much to bear alone.


End file.
